Monnone Alone - Summer Of The Mosquito album out Friday 10 May + national tour dates

BY This Much Talent | 02-May-2019

Melbourne quartet Monnone Alone are gearing up to release their first album in six years. Since 2013’s Together at Last, Monnone Alone have refined and cultivated their sound, mixing indiepop and classic rock. So far audiences have been blessed by jangly singles ‘Cut Knuckle’ and ‘Do It Twice’ from the forthcoming 10-track LP Summer of The Mosquito.

After taking ‘Do It Twice’ on the road to Beechworth, Canberra and Sydney, Monnone Alone are thrilled to announce their long-awaited second album will be released via indie label Lost and Lonesome on Friday 10 May.

Having toured Together at Last through the US and Europe on a rotating lineup, Mark Monnone got working back at home to solidify the group's membership. Drawing upon some of his favourite local bands, he enlisted players Joe Foley (Aleks & the Ramps) on bass, Louis Richter (Mid-State Orange) on guitar and Gus Franklin (Architecture in Helsinki, The Smallgoods) who returns to the throne having played the drums on – and co-produced – the first album. With a newly cemented lineup, Monnone Alone have spent the last few years caressing their new vibe and preparing to share it with the world.

Recorded and mixed by Melbourne-based Welsh producer Gareth Parton (Foals, Big Scary), with assistance from drummer Gus Franklin, Summer of the Mosquito is a big ol’ sun-smooch from a Melbourne band in no hurry to be anywhere but right here right now, and a songwriter happy to glimpse back briefly before being swept forward in life’s inevitable undertow.

Firing out of the blocks with a formidable tail-wind ‘Summer of the Mosquito’ is the titular opening track and latest single from the soon to be released LP. The band work up a vigorous power-pop lather, complete with jangling 12-string guitar and layered voices evoking a time long-gone but, as the song’s lyrics suggest, far from forgotten. Roll the windows down for this one, friend… “let’s do it again!”

The album is a sweet ‘n’ salty bike ride through the dizzying heights and gutter-scouring lows of summers past, an adventure through Monnone’s many and varied milieux, as mystifying as they may sometimes seem. First single ‘Cut Knuckle’ lays bare the singer’s quest for clarity among the clutter – “I’m glad to hear that you could see what I’m trying to say” sings Monnone on the snappy indiepop banger which is a loaded amalgamation of the group’s stylistic influences from Hoodoo Gurus to The Kinks, The Chills to Television Personalities.

On ‘Feeling Together Feels Alright’ the band channel the frayed trims and big pop feels of The Pastels and Pavement and take a slight detour via Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby on ‘Strollers’; both songs bearing passing reference to Monnone’s own baby, born during the writing process for the album and marking the singer’s first foray into parenthood. Now let’s talk classic rock – the sun-frazzled psy-folk of ‘Jerry’s Can’ owes its backstory to a visit to a friend in a Californian rehab facility and unexpectedly coming face to face with Jerry Garcia’s deathbed.

The album seamlessly flows through other hindsight highlights – ‘I Wanna Hide in Yesterday’, ‘The Dystopian Days of Yore’, ‘Tumble Downs’ – all before coming to a head at ‘Do It Twice’ the album’s second single and rollicking mid-life singalong.

As Jonathan Richman once (or twice) famously lamented: “that summer feeling is gonna haunt you one day in your life”. For Monnone Alone, that day has arrived and here it is for all to hear!

Feature Stories

Amanda Addams Auctions Pty/Ltd 251 Jasper Road McKinnon 3204 Sunday 7th June 2020 at 12.00 pm Viewing; Saturday 6th June 11 am to 5 pm. (Restricted viewing only 20 people at any one time) Auction will be held online with invaluable, not at the auction rooms. If you are registered with us, you may use your existing number. Includes the important remainder of the Robert Muir Collection- part 2, the Caroline Brunner collection -part 2, estates Brighton and Brighton East, also contents of homes: Caulfield North, Rowville, Bentleigh, and Kew.

The Napier Waller Art Prize is open to all current and former service personnel in the Australian Defence Force. The prize encourages artistic excellence, promotes the transformative power of creativity, and raises awareness of the experiences and talent of service personnel. @AWMemorial #AWMemorial